Ohio delegates say John McCain's convention speech must spell out the change he would bring

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- When Sen. John McCain takes the stage at the Xcel Center here tonight to deliver the most important speech of his political career, Ohio delegates will be sitting directly in front of him. But their advice on the eve of his big speech is clear: Don't talk to us.

Instead of focusing on his fellow Republicans in the convention hall, Ohio delegates say, McCain needs to aim his pitch at voters in living rooms across America who are itching for change but still are not sure which presidential candidate is the best bet to deliver it.

To win those voters over, delegates say, McCain needs to do several things tonight.

Perhaps the most crucial is to rebut Democratic arguments that a McCain presidency would amount to a third term of the Bush administration. That task may already have been eased a bit by President Bush's failure to appear in person at the convention, but delegates say McCain needs to do more to confront voters' concern that a vote for him would be a vote for the status quo.

"It's really hard for me to say this because I'm President Bush's biggest fan, but for us to win, he is going to have to separate himself from the president," said Ebony Grantonz, vice chairwoman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party.

"He has got to say, 'Listen, I've not only disagreed with President Bush, I've disagreed with the Republican Party,' " said Neal Duiker, a delegate from Brook Park. "He has to lay out a vision in a creative and thoughtful way to make people who aren't completely sold on Barack Obama realize that there is a choice out there."

McCain can separate himself from Bush and his party, delegates say, by spelling out some of the causes he has championed over the years that have infuriated fellow Republicans. As examples, they cite his sponsorship of a sweeping bipartisan campaign finance reform law and his role in the "Gang of 14," a bipartisan group of senators who collaborated to avoid a bitter showdown over judicial appointments.

"It might not get a big round of applause from me," said Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett. "But the point is he's like Ronald Reagan. He's his own man. You may not agree with him, but he's a man of conviction."

Ohioans say McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has relieved the pressure on him to use his address tonight to fire up conservative Republicans who once were less than enthusiastic about his candidacy. The task for him now, they say, is to reassure voters tempted by Obama's appeal for change and leery of McCain's ability -- after decades of working on Capitol Hill -- to deliver on his promise to bring a new spirit of reform to Washington.

"He needs to solidify his reform message," said Amanda Marko of Cleveland Heights. "When Democrats talk about change, it sounds good, but nobody knows what it means. Reform is something that people can understand. It's identifying a problem and then identifying a solution to it. When he explains what reform means, I think the light will come on for people."

Republicans say McCain needs to pound away at the same theme of change that Obama has been emphasizing. But he needs to leave Americans tonight with a clearer vision of precisely what sort of change a McCain administration would bring -- particularly on economic issues that are uppermost on voters' minds.

"He needs to put a finer point on it, to be more specific," says former Cincinnati Congressman Rob Portman.

"I'd like to see more detail, how he's going to accomplish change," said Kay Wick, a delegate from Centerville.

Kay Ayres, vice chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party, says that while it's vital for McCain to talk about new ideas for stimulating the economy, she hopes he doesn't give short shrift to his long record in Washington. McCain's experience is important, she said, because it allows him to make the case that he would be a safer choice than Obama to deliver change.

"He has a real record of accomplishment, not just hope," said Ayres. "We can't afford on-the-job training. We need change, but the right change."

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